Kalon Venture Partners, a South African venture capital company has successfully completed its final Section 12 J capital raise with Assets under Management of over ZAR250 million(US$17.5 million).
Kalon’s first fund started in 2016 and invested in nine disruptive technology companies and its second fund invested in seven of those companies. Kalon is now seeking innovation-led South African entrepreneurs to deploy its war chest of capital.
“The Section 12 J initiative enabled South African investors to participate in the exciting venture capital asset class. The Section 12 J initiative was born in 2009 to raise capital to assist early-stage entrepreneurs to grow their businesses,” CEO Clive Butkow said.
“During the last few years, there have been many accusations of the initiative being abused by certain fund managers”. Butkow commented on the premature ending of the Section 12 J sunset clause, “it was short-sighted and I believe the government through the baby out with the bathwater rather than extending the legitimate 12 J’s”. The companies that Kalon have invested in have already created in excess of 200 jobs.
Kalon invests in South African entrepreneurs with innovative technology solutions and assists them in scaling both locally and into global markets. Kalon’s executive and non-executive teams have years of experience in building and scaling international businesses.
Butkow continued, “having been involved in building many technology businesses, we provide more than financial capital but operational skills in helping scale the businesses. We are the operators behind the entrepreneurs and our “High Touch” approach is what many entrepreneurs are looking for to scale their businesses”.
There are a few experienced tech venture capital (VC) companies in South Africa. VCs do not only provide capital, Kalon Venture Partners provides mentorship, relationships, guidance and so much more.
“Great VCs understand that investing in companies marks the beginning of the journey and not the end of the process”, Butkow said.
Access to Kalon’s skills comes with a warning from Clive.
“We look for the best entrepreneurs and teams, the technology we invest in must have a competitive edge that are 10 X better, faster, cheaper than their competitors. Kalon also look for businesses that display good traction with a large addressable market.”
